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Friday, December 2, 2011

It Really Is The Little Things

Kind of a strange/happy/nice thing happened to me yesterday.

I'm in the parking lot of a grocery store by my home. I'd just stopped off at the local coffee shop next to the store. I was on my way to visit my mom. She always likes these frilly pretty coffee drinks so I was picking up one for her.

As I'm in the parking lot opening my car door, this weird blast of wind comes out of nowhere and the temperature drops at least 20 degrees. Okay, slight exaggeration. But still. I zipped up my jacket (yes, we do really wear jackets in the desert when the temperature dips to a chilly 70 degrees). Just as I did so, I turned and this older man and I locked eyes. He was walking hurriedly across the parking lot wearing a t-shirt and shorts. Me, I'm in pants and a jacket. Clearly one of us wasn't from Phoenix, right?

So we smiled at each other. He stops and says, "Hey, who turned the freezer on?"

I smiled again and we talked about these weird Santa Ana winds that we were getting from California. He mentioned that he was visiting from Virginia. Only a minute or two of weather convo, nothing more. Then he says to me, "Your smile made my day."

Which, of course, kind of took me back a little.

Then he says, "I was having a rotten day. Not anymore. Thanks for the smile." And then he turned around and started walking away.

Which got me thinking. Isn't it funny how something as simple as a smile, a few pleasant words, a little human-to-human contact can make a difference in someone's day? And it's free and doesn't hurt one bit!

It's funny how strangers can influence us. Earlier this week I was taking my son to school on a snowy morning. The roads were glassy and hazardous. I started sliding and bounced on the curb. When I tried to get back on track I found that I was stuck in a rut. A man came up from behind me and gave me a push to just get me out of the track I was stuck in. There's tons there to write about (maybe I should blog about it) but as I drove off, his help made me think of 'A Streetcar Named Desire' Blanche says "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers" or in your case, the smile of a stranger!